Getting ready for the Artists' Market in the Railyard tomorrow but just can't get the stories I heard last weekend out of my heart and mind....
When I was 10 years old my father got a new job which necessitated that my family move 60 miles south. We relocated from the South Bay area of Manhattan Beach to the orange groves of the Irvine Ranch. My father became the General Services Director for Newport Beach. As houses right on the ocean were very expensive even in 1967, we moved to a very new subdivision inland about 5 miles, very close to the newest University of California campus (Irvine), called University Park.
At the time I was none too happy about it; I knew no one, you had to take about 3 different freeways to get there, and it was a gigantic construction zone. In those days Orange County was mostly rural, there were no amenities; no shopping malls, no gas stations, just a newly opened Alpha Beta supermarket, that was it. Oh yeah, and rows and rows of orange groves with Eucalyptus trees interspersed as wind breaks. A paradise really, all within 10 minutes of the beach, with skiing in the local mountains 65 miles to the east at Snow Summit as well.
In 1967 when my parents bought their new home it cost $27,000 for a 4 bedroom, 3 bath home, cheap!! Or so it seems now. With new schools being built in the early 70's, scores of new families settled in University Park and the surrounding subdivisions of Turtle Rock, Woodbridge, and Village I,II, and III. Orange County's population was exploding and all of my friends and myself were transplants from other places making a new home there. I ended up going to school with a very close group of girls from 5th grade to college. We spent years on the beach together (see yesterday's post), went on ski trips to Colorado, took surf safari's down to Baja California, and toured Hawaii when we were 16. Countless hours were spent on the volleyball court at the end of my street..What a great childhood I had with Lori, Kathy, Lindy, Diane, Beth and Barbara!
Over the years I have reunited with some more than others, but last weekend I went to my 40th high school (University High in Irvine) reunion to see them all again. How amazing to see them again as 58 year-old women! We spent an alcohol-fueled evening together recalling all of our long-ago escapades, looking at old pictures, and catching up on 40 years of living; including husbands, children, careers, boyfriends, and travels. An amazing evening that will probably never happen again, at least with that specific combination of women.
The reunion went on without me for the entire weekend, but I could only attend on Friday night as I was on my way to Berkeley Saturday morning. I had coffee with Barbara and Beth before meeting my plane and I tell you it was very hard to say goodbye to them, knowing I was missing a day at "our" beach with them and also not know when I would see them again. I jumped into the airport shuttle after a quick hug but before I started crying on the ride over to catch my plane.
Selfie on Friday night with old girlfriends ( Beth and Lindy) from school.....
If I look tired and tipsy, it is because I am!!
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